A free Tea and Talk event held on the World Mental Health Day in the Corbett Community Library. Pic: Victoria Brustad

The Corbett Community Library in Lewisham marked World Mental Health Day by launching a new weekly wellbeing programme on Thursday.

Local residents were invited to a free ‘Tea and Talk’ event to inaugurate an initiative where the community are being offered one-to-one sessions with trained listeners.

“Everyone has a human need to be heard,” said co-founder of the project, Maria Georgiou.

A volunteer led initiative for local residents to come and have some snacks and chat with trained listeners. Pic: Victoria Brustad

“We’ve already had a lot of interest” Georgiou told Eastlondonlines.

Maria, along with Alban Griffith, a local Mental Health Ambassador with a focus on men’s mental health, received their registration to become a social enterprise this week.

The volunteer-led programme plans to train between 15 and 30 listeners over the next year.

The training, which will be held in person at the library, involves teaching local volunteers active listening skills, empathy, and safeguarding procedures.

The training takes half a day, making sure people understand the difference between a conversation with your friends to working with an individual who is there to be listened to.

“They are learning to have empathy over sympathy. We’re not asking for a huge commitment, maybe one or two hours a week—whatever people are willing to do. It’s a way for people to give something back to the community”, said Georgiou.

Each participant will undergo a DBS check before working with individuals one-on-one. The organisation’s plans, however, have not been without challenges. A recent crowdfunding campaign aimed at raising £2,000 to cover initial costs, including venue rental and training materials, fell short of its target, raising only half the amount.

Despite this, it was enough to get everything up and running. The team is also exploring partnerships with businesses to host wellbeing events and training, with the goal of using profits to reinvest in the community programme.

Georgiou’s passion for the project stems from personal experience. She found herself navigating the loneliness of grief after her daughter passed away from cancer in 2022.

“It was a really lonely space, and people don’t want to talk to you about that stuff,” she said.

Her personal loss, combined with her professional background in education and charity work, inspired her to create a project that fosters open conversation around mental health.

“I know the benefits of it. I’ve seen young people go from having behavioural issues or poor mental health to taking part in something like this (…) and it completely changes their lives. It’s something quite simple but it makes an enormous difference in people’s lives.”

Maria Georgiou co-founder of the wellness programme. Pic: Victoria Brustad

Corbett Community Library, a volunteer-led community hub, has long served Catford and Hither Green residents, offering a range of events focused on wellbeing. Eva Gibson, a member of the Corbett Community Library staff, praised the initiative: “We think it’s very important for local communities to help local people. That’s what we’re here for,” she said. Gibson added that the library regularly hosts events that address mental health and wellbeing, including bereavement support and exercise groups, which she believes are crucial for fostering mental stability.

While the listening initiative caters to a wide audience, the organisers are also looking to create events specifically for men. Griffith is working on a “Walk and Talk” series, as well as other male-oriented activities. “If I say to men, come to this (Tea and Talk), they’re not going to come. But if a guy says we’re going to have a barbecue and play football… all the stereotypes, but unfortunately, they work,” Georgiou explained.

In addition to the local sessions, Griffith hosts an online radio show, Lyme Out Live, which discusses mental health topics. The show has attracted an international audience, with participants joining from around the world in the last online Tea and Talk session.

On October 10, the radio show focused on mental health in the workplace and men’s mental health, aligning with this year’s global theme set by the World Federation for Mental Health.

As Lewisham’s community continues to embrace these initiatives, the organisers hope to expand their reach and support even more residents in the coming year. “If we were charging people to come to stuff like this, we’d be missing the people we’re trying to help,” Georgiou said.